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Dynamics GP eCommerce Integration Notes

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:48:03 +0000

Certainly, if you are building ecommerce from scratch, then you should consider products as the base of your future ecommerce web application. However, and this is probably your case, in ecommerce scenarios we often see legacy ecommerce portal, which does the job, and your role is to give some impulse as software developer in your IT department to ecommerce integration evolution. In this case you are moving away from emailing orders “automatically” from ecommerce to Great Plains users to somewhat like batch overnight ecommerce Sales Invoices and Payments processing or even in ideal case to real time Invoices creation triggering from ecommerce to Dynamics GP SOP module. Popular PHP based ecommerce shopping carts also create customer profile on the fly or update existing customer. In this case integration goes to Receivable Management Customer Master file in Great Plains. Let’s take a look at technical side or programming tools:

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Dynamics GP Integration Partner Chicago, San Diego News: eConnect programming

admin — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:41:57 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP, formerly known as Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise has good selection of custom programming and integration tools, plus from the SQL Server itself you could try Stored Procedures integration. Consider Dynamics GP Integration Manager, where you can simply setup integration without programming or even add some integration logic alteration via VBA scripts in Before Integration, Before Document Commit and other events. If your integration requires very deep interaction with Great Plains tables and custom tables, you can try Dynamics GP Dexterity programming (where you create custom tables and handle integration on both standard and custom ones) or eConnect Microsoft Visual Studio C# or VB.Net programming. This publication is not intended as eConnect eCommerce programming guide, we would like to give you the orientation in what to expect from eConnect, and we assume that you as software developer will be able to include eConnect libraries to your MS VS project and work with eConnect sample codes on your own:

1. Work Transactions and Master Records. eConnect allows you to create so-called work transactions, place them into the batch: Sales Order Processing Order or Invoice (this is especially valuable in ecommerce website programming), Purchase Order, GL transaction, etc. and if required create or alter existing master records: customer, vendor, GL account, Payroll Employee, Address

2. eConnect versus SQL Stored Procedures. If you think that there is no need to deploy eConnect and instead code your own custom SQL Stored Procedures, please note, that you in essence will be recoding GP business logic, which is already coded by Microsoft Dynamics GP programmers in Microsoft – in our opinion it is waste of time, unnecessary learning curve and potential source of numerous bugs and even data integrity threat. And again in our opinion Stored Procedures should be coded only when your integration project is very simple – and even here, please look at Great Plains Integration Manager first

3. eConnect versus Integration Manager. The tendency is the following – IM is in process of being rewritten with eConnect connectors, and walking away from legacy OLE Server based approach. This fact should mean for you that IM is as fast as custom eConnect application. eConnect application, however might be triggered in real time, where IM should be either called by IM operator or scheduled with Windows scheduler or special Windows Macro based application

4. Automatic Batch Posting in ecommerce. This is something that eConnect doesn’t have, you should deploy Dynamics GP ISV add-on, Alba Spectrum Posting Server, which will allows you to place batches in Autopost queue and then posting process will be launched by Posting Server GP workstation

5. If you feel that you need Dynamics GP consultant help, please call your Great Plains Guru, or if you do not have one, consider calling to Great Plains Resellers in your area or who are familiar with your industry. Feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

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Dynamics GP Ecommerce Programming and Integration Notes

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:40:42 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics GP is open to ecommerce programmer via eConnect SDK, as well as Microsoft SQL Server programmability tools (typically Stored Procedures and Views). Before you dive into technical project of eConnect programming, please, review Great Plains Integration Manager module and its customization options: VBA scripting of Before Document Commit (as very common modification point) event; you can schedule IM integration with Windows Macro or deploy free and ready for purchase applications, extending basic Windows Macro with additional functionalities. Dynamics GP Integration Manager based (for version 10.0 and future versions 11.0 and up) on eConnect technology (in addition to supporting old OLE Server integrations), meaning that IM integration should be able to achieve the same goal with less efforts. And as you should expect the same limitations for eConnect as you have for Integration Manager – most often manifesting limitation is eConnect and Integration Manager Batch Posting inability. Now straight to the Great Plains eCommerce Developing topic:

1. eConnect is Software Development Kit, written in SQL Stored Procedures (encrypted), it allows you to program GP master records (Customer, Vendor, Employee, GL Account, Inventory Item, Address, Project, Budget, etc.) and so-called Work Transactions: SOP Quote, Order and Invoice, POP Purchase Order, GL Transaction, Employee Paycheck, Inventory Adjustment and Transfer, to give the idea. eConnect is friendly and requires very short learning curve for Microsoft Visual Studio .Net C#, VB and other .Net compliant languages programmers. Additional pluses if you have XML, SQL Scripting skills

2. Sales Order Processing and Inventory Control modules and tables. These two are the most popular in ecommerce integrations. SOP tables have SOP prefix (famous SOP10100 transaction header and SOP10200 lines), and Inventory INV (INV00101 – item master and INV00102 Quantity master) respectively. Sometimes, especially in old Great Plains ecommerce legacy integrations you find Invoicing module (IV prefix)

3. Posting problem. In ecommerce application you often want to do all the way transaction processing: Sales Invoice creation and modification, applying credit card payment deposit, allocating merchandise, approving and posting Sales Order Processing batch (or individual transaction). Here, you will hit the wall and realize that Posting functionality is not included in eConnect or Great Plains Integration Manager. There is no shortcut here (we assume that you are Not Dynamics GP Dexterity software developer with tons of programming experience, including Dexterity Source Code Programming), you will need to purchase Dynamics GP Add-On, we recommend Dynamics GP Posting Server, also known as Autopost

4. Dynamics GP eCommerce SQL Scripting. If you have the opinion that your ecommerce integration routine is very simple and eConnect is too cumbersome and heavy in being considered for deployment, you can always rescue to SQL direct insertion statement. Please review GP table structure: Dynamics GP -> Settings -> Resource Description -> Tables. Or, simply install GP Software Development Kit from CD #2. Dynamics GP Business Logic might be too complex for intuitive programming, so if you will get the buggy situation, consider creating test transaction in GP user interface and review the records in GP tables. If you prefer proven set of stored procedures – we offer them as Order Connector, feeding data into SOP tables

5. Feel free to call us on Microsoft Dynamics GP eCommerce integrations concerns: 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

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Dynamics GP Integration: Great Plains Technology Partner Notes

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 01:07:15 +0000

If you have Microsoft Dynamics GP implemented in your organization and you plan to integrate GP ERP and MRP modules with your other IT systems: ecommerce, Sales Ordering, CRM, EDI Purchasing, Supply Chain Management, you should get initial introduction to Dynamics GP Integration Tools: Integration Manager, eConnect, Dexterity, Import Utility, direct SQL Scripting. In this article we will not be covering Dynamics GP ISV third party add-ons. It might look a bit technical to IT director, and at the same time you, as programmer may expect more technical details, as we are trying to keep balance:

1. Integration Manager. This tool is very friendly to GP User, and if this is your role, plus you are familiar with GP master documents and transactions types, you should try to build simple integration, use existing sample integrations as a reference and study materials. If you are on GP version 10.0, IM has two types of Connectors: traditional OLE based (require login to the GP workstation as OLE Server and launching IM from there – integration works with the current company) and eConnect (they are built upon eConnect technology stack, should be a way faster, do not require GP workstation, however you will need special procedure to install eConnect connectors, especially Admin domain account or your GP local server Admin account; if by whatever reason you change eConnect Account Password, please change it in also in Administrative Tools -> Component Services -> COM+ Applications – > Properties – > Identity – this is one of the most asked questions). If you think about IM as very simple and pretty restricted tool, we would like to give you advanced scenario. Consider the situation, when you have legacy Sales Order Management System in Oracle, and you need to move Sales Orders and New Customers to GP SOP module. In this case, consider to create MS SQL Server Linked Server to Oracle, and SQL Heterogeneous View, which will pull data from Oracle and will check the Invoice existence in SOP10100 (Work SOP Docs) or SOP30200 (Historical SOP Docs). This view should allow you to create ongoing integration of Customer Orders to GP. You can schedule integration with Windows Scheduling custom applications, available for moderate fee on Software market, or simply have GP IM user to launch integration every day or every few hours. Please, check with your Dynamics GP VAR on IM module license

2. eConnect. This tool is open for Microsoft Visual Studio C#, VB or other .Net programming language software developer. Initially it was dedicated to ecommerce programmers to open Great Plains as back office accounting. We recommend you to look at eConnect if your current GP version is 10.0 or 9.0. If you are on earlier version: 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, 4.0, 3.2, Great Plains Accounting for DOS, Windows or Mac, please consider upgrade to version 10.0 or if you are on Great Plains Dynamics, consider deploying either Integration Manager, Import Utility, Dexterity or direct SQL Insert. eConnect is simple in inclusion into MS Visual Studio project as Library, and then you should be able to program by examples, provided in eConnect SDK. In fact in Integration Manager 10.0 most of the objects are available in eConnect connector version, so you can try IM, however eConnect allows you to have more control over integration, and especially important feature is real time integration option, where you could call eConnect methods upon ecommerce invoice and payment placement event

3. Dexterity. It is native Great Plains development environment, and it has access to all the GP Objects, including master records, work, open and historical transactions, plus custom Dexterity add-ons created tables, fields, forms and windows. You should not immediately consider to drop IM and eConnect as no longer feasible integration options, as Dex has some drawbacks – it is not open source programming language, it requires relatively long programming learning curve. You may consider to get Dynamics GP Dexterity training for your IT programmers, if you are facing huge Great Plains implementation with numerous customizations and existing logic modifications, especially when you work for large organization with challenging ecommerce, logistics, warehouse management. For the rest of us, we recommend outsourcing Dexterity integration programming to Dynamics GP ISV with Dex software development factories. One of the good examples of Dex custom add-ons is Alba Spectrum Posting Server or Autopost, allowing you to break through eConnect limitations on inability to post Batches and individual transactions

4. Import Utility. This tool is in our opinion rather archaic and useful if you are on Ctree or Pervasive SQL 2000. Since Dynamics GP 8.0 the only supported DB Platform is Microsoft SQL Server: MS SQL 2000 for 8.0, 9.0 and 10.0, MS SQL 2005 for 9.0, 10.0, MS SQL 2008 for 10.0. We recommend you direct SQL insert for SQL Server based installations. IU doesn’t validate GP business logic and such is similar in its potential harm to business logic inconsistency as direct SQL insert statement

5. Direct SQL Scripting. Please, try not to be too enthusiastic about feeding data into Great Plains via SQL Query Analyzer. Consider the fact that eConnect is written in SQL Server encrypted stored procedures and likely the intended SQL feeding is already covered in one of its Procedures. Consider to invest some time in eConnect training, as if you do integration in eConnect libraries, versus custom SQL scripting – business logic validation should not be an issue, as eConnect is replicating Dexterity business logic. If these advises are not applicable to you, please go ahead with SQL scripting. Dynamics GP Tables structure could be found in GP SDK (install from CD#2), plus here: Dynamics GP -> Setup-> Resource Description -> Tables. We strongly recommend to be very conservative and try your integration first in the test company or in Fabrikam Lesson Company – here try to enter similar transactions in GP user interface and then review how records were recorded in the tables and finally then begin your coding

6. Dynamics GP Integration in International environment. Please note that GP is generally localized and supported in English speaking countries: USA, Canada (including French Quebec version), UK, Australia, South Africa, Oceania, New Zealand, India, Pakistan or English Business Specking South East Asia, plus it is translated and partially localized for Spanish specking Latin America. GP has potential to be translated to non-Unicode compliant languages: Russian, Lithuanian, German, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Turkish, etc. However we recommend you to consider ERP tax code compliance question. In some international situations SAP Business One with GL or transactions integrations to Dynamics GP might be better option, especially if SB1 is localized for your country

7. Alternatives to Dynamics GP Great Plains. If you feel that GP is too expensive, consider Microsoft Small Business Accounting or if this is too simple, consider SAP Business One. If you believe that GP is too poor in its functionality, consider switching to next level in Microsoft Dynamics ERP products hierarchy – AX, formerly known as Axapta

8. If you need additional help, please call us: 1-866-528-0577, internationally 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com or skype: albaspectrum. We would be happy to give you your industry case from Great Plains customization and integration perspective, as well as to give you second opinion, if you are not happy with your current Dynamics GP Partner support level

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Dynamics GP and SAP Business One eCommerce integration options

admin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:43:48 +0000

ERP and ecommerce system integration is probably important question for established ecommerce operations as well as for those who are in startup mode. It is perfect situation if you find appropriate Corporate ERP software, where ecommerce is working out of the same tables as core ERP Sales Order Processing, Inventory Control with Price Lists. However, this might be good hope for the future, real life shows the pattern, where ecommerce store deploys unique business logic and pricing schemas – and in order to implement these rules you often have to either do custom ecommerce web development or pick very generic and powerful ecommerce web stores (which may not be necessary integrated with major Small and midsize business Corporate ERP packages). In this small article we would like to draw the picture in the case of deploying and implementing SAP Business One or Microsoft Dynamics GP, formerly known as Great Plains Dynamics:

1. eCommerce extensions. If you do not have existing ecommerce website in production, then for both SB1 and GP, please look for ecommerce extensions. For Dynamics GP look at GP Business Portal Order Management module. For SBO review its ecommerce module. There are ecommerce add-ons on the ISV products market for both ERP, out of scope here. Regarding BP and SB1 ecommerce module, please see presentation and be sure that it fits your requirements at least 95%, as you may find the solution to be too difficult to customize. If you find your case resolved, we are happy for you, for the rest of us, let’s go to the next paragraph

2. Real time versus Batch mode integration. Now, you are trying to find reasonably priced integration technology, allowing you to export ecommerce documents: invoices, sales orders, price lists into your new ERP and potentially integrate back to ecommerce document status from the ERP. You may decide to start in your pilot mode with Batch mode integration, where you initiate data synchronization by calling user friendly integration tool. In the case of SB1 you can deploy Data Transfer Workbench with Advanced ODBC Sources and Dynamics GP has Integration Manager module. Real time integration, as you could expect requires custom programming, in the case of SB1 it is SAP Business One SDK coding, and in GP it is eConnect. Both eConnect and SB1 SDK could be a way to go if you need very advanced custom ecommerce integration, especially when you are large company and can afford ecommerce to ERP integration budget

3. Document Status export back to ecommerce. Here in simple and inexpensive scenario you read Dynamics GP tables: SOP10100, SOP10200, or in SB1: OINV or INV1. In both cases, please review Dynamics GP or SAP Business One SDK help documentation, where you can review table structure. How you update statuses in eCommerce, please review your ecommerce application documentation, or talk to your in-house ecommerce programmers

4. Documents posting in accounting application. In SAP B1, when you add Invoice – it automatically posts itself all the way through General Ledger, so posting is available to SB1 SDK developer. In Dynamics GP, in contrast you have more flexibility in batch reviewing and approving, however this flexibility blocks you from posting GP SOP batches directly from eConnect methods, as Batch and Transaction Posting is in GP user competence and eConnect can only create so-called Work documents and place them into the Batch. To offer you work around for eConnect ecommerce programmer we created Alba Spectrum Posting Server, where you place batch into queue table and Autopost launches posting process automatically

5. Master Slave scenario. You should decide if your Corporate ERP (Dynamics GP or SAP Business One) should become Master in entering initial Inventory Items, Price Lists, Promotion Campaign, etc. and then uploading these objects to ecommerce or this role is for your ecommerce application – then SB1 is Slave and ecommerce is sort of Master. This decision should orient you in strategy and potentially avoid long decision making IT meetings. Normally, for the Master application you should have very high level of comfort in technical knowledge and be confident in its future, as Slave role is less critical and maybe in the future remapped to something else

6. How to get help? Please call us 1-866-528-0577, internationally: 1-630-961-5918, or email us: help@albaspectrum.com. We are also comfortable to help you if you are international client, we speak English, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese. SB1 is localized for numerous countries and it supports Unicode (Chinese, Japanese, Korean hieroglyphs). SAP Business One or Dynamics GP licenses sale or reenrolling you into MS or SAP annual support program is possible if you are orphan client. We will help you if you need to implement and integrate Timesheets in Microsoft CRM and upload them to SB1 or GP as Invoices, feel free to call us for details

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Dynamics GP ecommerce Integration Technologies: notes for Programmer

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:43:17 +0000

We assume that in your case you have established Microsoft Dynamics GP (also known as Great Plains Dynamics in the past) and use it in production for accounting, Sales Order Processing, AP, AR, distribution and logistics. Plus you have working ecommerce website, where integration to GP is very loose: maybe it triggers email to Picking and Packing department, or Sales Order Processing people. In this small publication we would like to review relatively open for end user or in the case of software developer – not difficult to begin integration coding. We do not specifically review here differences between B2B and B2C ecommerce scenarios in Dynamics GP, please review our past articles. There are ready for deployment solutions, we assume that you already did this homework and decided to preserve your investments into your current eCommerce web application, and all you would like to do is robust integration:

1. Real Time versus Batch Mode integrations. Real Time ecommerce transactions move to GP Sales Orders or Invoices is definitely cool to have, however if this is not absolutely required, we recommend you first to think about Batch Mode ecommerce integration. Batch mode means, that ecommerce may have some lookups for your customers if item is available in one of your warehouses (via simple SQL query to your Dynamics GP Company database), however ecommerce transactions are moved to GP Sales Document only once per day, or maybe every hour, if you are larger ecommerce retailer

2. GP Integration Manager. This tool is very friendly to Great Plains users, and it could be extended by programmer via VBA event driven scripts. IM is first choice if you are planning integrate in Batch Mode. Please, do not be mislead by some GP consultants, that IM is for text files only. For advanced ecommerce integration to GP we recommend you to base IM data queries on SQL Server Views (Advanced ODBC based query) and the View itself looks at the existing GP orders and lines and into new ecommerce document – in that case your scenario could be completely automated. Plus IM integration could be called automatically via Windows macro third party tiny applications (or you can purchase Integration scheduling tool from Microsoft Business Solutions, check with your Dynamics GP Partner on that). We helped implement scenarios for large Computer IT integrator and warehouse, where all transactions are coming through B2B ecommerce website on PHP/Linux and GP Integration Manager is scheduled to run every 20 minutes to be close to real time mode integration. OK, now if you think IM is too simple, let’s move on to eConnect

3. eConnect SDK and technology for Dynamics GP. If you are C# or VB.Net ecommerce programmer or programming savvy web master, please review eConnect, as it has set of libraries, which could be added to your MS Visual Studio web projects and you could create, edit, delete virtually all GP Master records: customer, vendor, GL account, Item, Address, Employee, and work transactions: Sales Invoice, Purchase Order, Purchase Receipt, GL Transaction, Customer Payment. Please, note that you cannot post GP Batches (such as popular in ecommerce scenarios Sales Order Processing Batch) – if you need complete automation with Batch Posting you need to consider Alba Spectrum Posting Server or Autopost. Also, eConnect doesn’t cover some rather historical modules, such as Invoicing (usually Great Plains Customers prefer more robust Sales Order Processing module). And plus, eConnect from Dynamics GP doesn’t cover third party Dynamics GP ISV modules, which you may deploy – consider to check with you Great Plains ISV partner if they have extensions for eConnect. If you are on Dynamics GP 10.0 and 9.0 – eConnect is the way to go, however if you are on older version, consider to upgrade to GP version 10.0 prior to deploying eConnect in your ecommerce integration programming

4. Beyond eConnect. If you believe that your integration is SOP only and it is very simple, we offer Alba Spectrum Order Connector. This tool supports all current versions: 10.0 and 9.0 plus older versions: 7.5 and 8.0. You can also combine some Great Plains Dexterity programming to alter business processes in GP as additional help to Integration. We are trying to discourage you from considering direct SQL Server Stored procedures coding, as eConnect already have this work done for you – its initial layout is encrypted MS SQL Server Stored Procedures, plus consider the fact that Dynamics GP Business Logic and Data Flow is complex, and its database is not protected from inexperienced SQL programmer – you can compromise data integrity and incur additional unexpected expenses in involving GP Technical consultants to do data recovery and repair

5. How to get help? Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, outside of USA: 1-630-961-5918 or email us help@albaspectrum.com We are very technical and real Dynamics GP Dexterity, SAP Business One SDK programming gurus. We have Great Plains Software Development Factory and could support unlimited Dynamics GP Customization and Programming needs. Plus we speak English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and not only as native speaking sales folks, but as real technical consultants. If you prefer skype: albaspectrum

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Ecommerce to Dynamics GP Real Time Integration: Order Connector

admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:42:44 +0000

If your back office Corporate ERP application is Microsoft Dynamics GP, former versions were also known as Microsoft Great Plains and Great Plains Dynamics, and you have in-house developed ecommerce web application with items catalogs with advanced price lists (especially in B2B ecommerce scenarios), shopping cart, credit card processing, we would like to present you this small publication in the form of FAQ and orientation session. We are writing for IT managers or even accounting professionals, who are decision makers in Corporate ERP application selection and its integration with eCommerce production website:

1. Real Time versus Batch and Quasi real time integration modes. Real time means instant ecommerce shopping cart transformation to Microsoft Dynamics GP Sales Order Processing Invoice (or Sales Order) – Dynamics GP SOP module is one of the most popular platforms for ecommerce transactions integration. Batch processing or quasi real time typically when you either schedule Great Plains Integration Manager to run integration every hour or integration be initiated by Great Plains user. Real Time ecommerce to Microsoft Dynamics GP integration is typically programmed in eConnect SDK or in advanced scenarios you can deploy custom preprogrammed SQL Stored Procedures

2. eConnect Dynamics GP SDK. eConnect lower technology level is set of encrypted SQL Server Stored procedures, imitating Microsoft Dynamics GP (Dexterity) business logic. eConnect libraries could be included in Microsoft Visual Studio .Net project (typically C# or VB, as eConnect sample codes are available these two programming languages). eConnect is definitely faster, as it is coded in Stored Procedures, especially comparing to Dexterity. However, considering the complexity of business logic, that eConnect has to imitate, it might be slower to simplified SQL Stored procedures, which are powerful enough to integrate several types of ecommerce shopping carts into SOP invoices – this is the case of Alba Spectrum Order Connector

3. Order Connector. Let’s assume that your ecommerce shopping cart targets Great Plains Sales Order Processing Invoices, and you are not using such complications as Serial or Lot Numbers, multicurrency, back ordering, etc. Let’s assume that you ecommerce items are services or normal taxable sales items, available in your default inventory sites. Please, check with us on restrictions, and if they (the restrictions) are not a concern, we are happy to offer extremely quick ecommerce to Microsoft Dynamics GP real time integration product

4. Order Connector and Great Plains versions. We have our connector, starting from Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise version 6.0 for Microsoft SQL Server (sorry, it is not available for Pervasive SQL or Ctree based Great Plains Select versions). If you are Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 or 9.0 you can deploy eConnect for ecommerce integration, however if you are on legacy versions: 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0 – we recommend you to upgrade to more recent versions, or if this is not possible due to budget restrictions, we invite you to try our Order Connector for ecommerce integration programming

5. eCommerce Automatic Batch Posting in Dynamics GP. Both tools: GP Integration Manager and eConnect do not allow you to post batches, as this routine is supposed to be in the hands of Microsoft Dynamics GP user to review, approve and post the batch. If you definitely need to do all the work directly from ecommerce web application, we recommend you to purchase and deploy Alba Spectrum Posting Server, also known as Autopost. Posting Server is Microsoft Dexterity Source Code Dexterity programmed application, which requires you to dedicate GP workstation and one permanently logged in Great Plains user. Dynamics GP batch posting is done in exactly the same fashion as Great Plains Dexterity Dynamics GP user interface initiated batch posting

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Dynamics GP eCommerce Custom Integration Notes

admin — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:41:41 +0000

Microsoft Dynamics GP, formerly this ERP and MRP application was known under Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise name, is very popular among mid-size businesses and it is natural to turn it into ecommerce back office. If you are launching your ecommerce from scratch, please consider deploying existing Great Plains ISV Partners products or add-ons. However, and this might be why you are reading this small publication, your ecommerce web application is working and you have to program integration connectors to Dynamics GP Sales Order Processing, Inventory Control and Receivable Management modules. Let’s come through the options:

1. eConnect programming. GP is hosted in Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 2008 or earlier, so you can always program eConnect via MS Visual Studio. GP eConnect is Software Development Kit with libraries, that you can deploy in your integration C#, VB programming project. It has sample codes, so that should be all you need. Some familiarity with XML and Dynamics GP objects could be recommended: SOP Invoice, Customer, Inventory Item, etc.

2. Dynamics GP Integration Manager. For GP version 10.0 we see a lot of integration bases are now rewritten in eConnect as general observation, however IM is end user friendly (to some extent of this term of course) tool. If you are OK with integration, initiated by IM user or with scheduled integration (via Windows Macro utilities from small software development vendors, etc.), then you may decide to implement Integration Manager solution and close the question

3. Order Connector. This product allows you to deploy ecommerce integration in the case, when you do not want to come through eConnect programming learning curve, or you are on older GP version: 8.0, 7.5, 7.0, 6.0, 5.5, 5.0, or you believe that eConnect performance is not too cool for real time integrations. This product is set of SQL Stored Procedures with simple set of parameters to make your live as SQL programmer easier

4. Posting Server or Autopost. If you have requirements to post SOP Documents all the way through General Ledger, you probably already realized that both eConnect and Integration Manager do not allow you to Post, they do not have the functionality and methods to post. And this is natural restriction of original Great Plains Dynamics architecture, where transaction and batch approval and posting are coupled together and left in the hands of GP user. Posting Server deploys one user license and is add-on to existing Dynamics GP workstation. It checks GP server if new batches are approved for being posted every few seconds and initiates Great Plains Batch Posting process if new batch is ready for processing

5. Dynamics GP Business Portal. Here you can deploy ecommerce in B2B scenarios. Order Management module in BP is natural base for such a project. Current version of Business Portal is 10.0 (looks like MBS synched it with Dynamics GP versioning) Please, note that older Great Plains ecommerce extensions, such as eOrder (ASP platform)are no longer available and you will have to migrate such solutions to Dynamics GP Business Portal, which is now Microsoft Sharepoint application. In Dynamics GP Order Management module you can deploy Items Catalogue and Price List, reflecting original Dynamics GP Inventory Price Lists

6. Dynamics GP Dexterity ecommerce programming. Dexterity is former Great Plains Dynamics architecture and it is still one of the fundamental stones in Dynamics GP platform. In Dex you have unlimited power over Dynamics GP objects, including posted transactions, in fact Autopost is Dexterity custom application, which is programmed with Great Plains Dexterity Source Code access. You should consider Dexterity customization route if your ecommerce integration requirements are really challenging and you need access to the objects, coded in Dexterity add-ons (Dynamics GP ISV or your former in-house Dexterity customizations)

7. Sorry for being laconic, but it is the restriction of the article genre. How to get additional info and help? Please, feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

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Microsoft Dynamics GP eCommerce: Sales Order Processing integration and Autoposting

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:42:18 +0000

If you are ecommerce developer, who is integrating ecommerce web front application with Dynamics GP (often referred historically as Great Plains Dynamics or eEnteprise), you probably target SOP or Sales Order Processing Invoice as target in GP for ecommerce customer shopping cart. Customer Credit Card payment becomes customer deposit to invoice and each item purchased becomes Invoice Line item. If you are using Microsoft Visual Studio C# or VB.Net web project for ecommerce application, then natural way for you to deploy Dynamics GP sConnect libraries and SDK (help info, available in eConnect) to review and imitate code samples. This technology should work in both B2B (where you create real customer, or work only in restricted partner channel) and B2C (where you send all the invoices to so-called Walk In customer, and if required add just new Walk In folk address). In this small publication we would like to review other options and Automatic Batch posting technology directly from ecommerce eConnect application:

1. Microsoft Dynamics GP Integration Manager in ecommerce scenarios. This tool could be either called on demand or scheduled with the scheduling application available for purchase from Microsoft Business Solutions, or you can deploy third party (often free) Windows macro type of small shareware applications available in open software market for download and tryout. If you schedule IM to execute ecommerce to GP integration say every twenty minutes – this method might be a way more powerful (assuming that GP plays master role for Inventory Items maintenance and update and Pricelists). If this is the case – IM can create or update such objects as Customer, Address, Inventory Item, Comments to Customer, Invoice, Invoice Line, Shipping Instructions. With Dynamics GP 10.0 Integration Manager deploys eConnect connectors, which are very efficient from performance standpoint (however eConnect SOP connector doesn’t have SOP Return, but you can realize return via IM OLE technology based SOP connector and for future versions of Dynamics GP IM we hope that that gap will be patched). Integration Manager also does the job, even if your ecommerce is hosted in Linux/PHP/MySQL. In this case you can either use cross platform ODBC bridge, or have Integration Manager integrate text or XML ecommerce shopping cart exports. And as the another good note about IM – if you deploy Advanced ODBC Data Sources in IM, you can base them on Microsoft SQL Server Linked Server to Oracle, Lotus or another non-Microsoft DB platform, which is ODBC compliant and which could be joined in SQL Server View

2. eConnect. This tool opens the door to real time ecommerce integration to GP, if this is something, that is absolutely required. eConnect might be more flexible comparing to Integration Manager, but it might require more programming time to cover all expected (and unexpected) ecommerce customer actions. If real time aspect is not critical, eConnect advantage could be additional flexibility, when eCommerce application is playing master role (new items, price lists, discounts, internet promotions are initiated in your ecommerce application and then propagated to Dynamics GP, as you post new ecommerce shopping carts and download them to Great Plains)

3. Dynamics GP Automatic batch posting directly from ecommerce eConnect or Linux based application. eConnect by its architecture works with GP master records and so-called Work Transactions, where you place work SOP invoice (ecommerce shopping cart image) to the bath for GP user (decision maker or approver) review, approval and posting directly in GP user interface. Dynamics GP is mid-market Corporate ERP and it has layers of security and approval cycles, and eConnect doesn’t allow shortcuts in batch auto posting on eConnect level. We recommend you to deploy Alba Spectrum Posting Server which imitates batch approval and posting initiation through Dynamics GP User Workstation. Even if you are sending shopping carts from Unix, Linux/PHP platforms, you can still enjoy Posting Server functionality, as all you need to do is to populate SOP10100, SOP10200 and other SOP work tables (we have Alba Spectrum Order Connector product, which allows you to do this work on SQL Stored Procedures level) and mark the batch as ready for being posted in custom Batch Prepared for Posting table. Posting Server deploys native Microsoft Dexterity (formerly known as Great Plains Dexterity) batch posting initiation internal procedures

4. How to get additional help? We encourage you to search in google for Dynamics GP video demos and presentations. Our web engineers are deploying web casting technologies, similar to the ones used in Youtube and Google Video to provide free Dynamics GP internet video presentations. Feel free to call or email our office. Service is available virtually Worldwide via remote connections, web sessions and phone conferences. We will be happy to travel to your USA, Canada, Brazil or international based office or facility, if required. Our consultants speak English, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Filipino and other languages

Microsoft Dynamics GP eCommerce: Sales Order Processing integration and Autoposting is a post from: wordpressrobot.com

Dynamics Gp Ecommerce Partner Newsflash: Econnect Integration And Autoposting

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:44:07 +0000

Great Plains Software Dynamics, or new name for this ERP and MRP application is Microsoft Dynamics GP at this time has multiple ecommerce programming and integration tools: eConnect, Order Connection set of stored procedures, populating Sales Order Processing Invoices or Sales Orders, Great Plains Dexterity add-ons, such as Batch Posting Server, which is great extension to eConnect, allowing you to post Sales and other modules batches directly from ecommerce web application. This small publication is not intended to go deep into technical details, it is rather for IT managers of mid-size companies, typically responsible for ecommerce to Dynamics GP integration projects:1. Microsoft Dexterity programming tool. This tool lays in the foundation of Dynamics GP: Great Plains user workstation code is Dex application in fact, and Dexterity places certain requirements on Dynamics GP tables (DEX_ROW_ID, for example). If you are Dynamics GP customer, where GP is implemented, then Dexterity projects likely to be subcontracted to Dynamics GP Technology Partner. Alba Spectrum Autoposting Server is coded in Great Plains Dexterity, similarly you can order custom Dex add-ons to add new functionality or improve GP business logic2. eConnect ecommerce Great Plains integrations. In this case, you, as mid-size or smaller ecommerce organization with your own IT and programming resources deploys eConnect as Dynamics GP Software Development Kit. It is not really simple or self explanatory, you got to be familiar with Great Plains objects architecture, but it is doable and you are not the first programmer and not the last one3. Automatic Batches Posting in Great Plains Dynamics GP. Alba Spectrum Autopost GP add-on does this job. It is using Dex source code programming and it should be capable to post the batches in core GP modules: SOP, POP, PM, RM, GL, UPR, Inventory, Invoicing. It is also capable to post batches in Dynamics GP ISV coded modules, but it is not guaranteed, you should check with us on the specific add-on and posting logic

Dynamics Gp Ecommerce Partner Newsflash: Econnect Integration And Autoposting is a post from: wordpressrobot.com